YouTube kids: how unboxing, gaming and toy reviews took over

We’re all in a big experiment and you have to observe your kid and see what
effect it’s having on them. 500 hours of video are uploaded
to YouTube every minute. Despite an age restriction of 13, the site’s
highest earner last year was a seven-year-old boy. And look right, that’s you. People are making a lot of money from YouTube
and they’re doing it simply by creating content that they know kids will want to watch. The platform has been criticised for failing to protect children on site and for its algorithm which prizes watch time over all other metrics. There is no scenario where YouTube is safe. It’s like the cesspool of Hollywood. In spite of this, underage children
are flocking to the site. Becoming a YouTuber is now the number one
aspiration for British and American kids. Like, subscribe and share… My friend has a million subscribers and
his first two were his parents. But social media influencer seems both an unlikely on potentially unhealthy career choice. I wanted to understand the phenomenon
and who or what is driving it. My first visit was to 10-year-old Bow and his dad Chris in Horsham in the south of England. Bow has been reviewing toys on YouTube for five years. Once you’ve been doing it for a couple of years, like I’ve been doing it, you kind of get the hang of it. Because at first I was only five and did the
volcano experiment that we did. Next you need to take some bicarbonate of soda… It got some views and subscribers, didn’t it? You know, we kept on going and then we got to this day. So it’s really good. This is a home studio you’ve got, right? Yeah. So this is where the magic happens. Yeah. This guy can destroy the future at every cross. What do you think of YouTube? It really helps me show people
my talent of showing toys. Is your ambition to be an influencer? Yeah. Okay Bow, are you ready? Go for it . Okay first bit was excellent, just that last bit.
Okay. So basically Bow would be what’s called
a micro-influencer. He’s an influencer but he doesn’t have
like millions of subscribers. And is the dream to reach 100,000? It would be really nice. I think we would have to really ramp up
how many uploads we do. I don’t know how the other YouTubers do it because it
takes me a full week to edit the video. I do crazy stupid stuff like this. Also can you work out…
A bit more excited. Also can you work out which one of my friends
are joining me today. Okay, just cut that. It starts off as a hobby but it does become a chore
and there are times when you feel like you just want to put it all down,
you don’t want to do it anymore. Why do you do it? Part of it is maybe me, I mean when I was a kid
I used to love acting I listened to the naysayers too much,
it was just a dream that I had left behind. I think you should phrase it maybe sort of: Also can you work out which of my friends is joining me today? Just that last bit, okay? Okay. There’s a stereotype around this sort of thing which is
that there are these pushy parents who are living their own dreams by proxy. I don’t think I’m one of those parents.
I am trying to create an opportunity for them that I didn’t have, that I wanted to have when I was a kid but wasn’t there for me. It’s not just a DVD… No, I don’t need that bit again,
I’m happy with that. Let’s start the challenge. Time challenge.
Guys, come on. Okay? I listen to myself back, I sometimes hate myself for being annoyed with him. One of the sad things about what we were doing
was it became less natural and more engineered as time went on.
We’re being paid by brands to do various things. Is that because money is involved?
Money is involved now. Why do you have to do that?
It does change things. YouTube has its job but I think it also has
its dark side as well. I’ve come to the historical epicentre of fame:
Los Angeles. Star Education have invited me to their YouTuber
summer camp, run at a primary school in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood. I mean, is this technically Hollywood? No, no. This camp is a YouTube camp. The whole idea of it is have a lot of fun,
give them some skills but also kind of try to transition them from just consumers into
people that are actually making it. So, right now I believe we have 32 kids,
all influencers in their own way. What age is that?
So basically six to 10. The first video we’re going to make today
is unboxing video. So, I’m just going to open it. Oh my gosh. Thank you everyone for watching. I was like five when I started doing this stuff
and I am 10 now. Wow, five years.
You’re a veteran, a veteran of unboxing things. Where did the idea for a
YouTube summer camp come from? We’re in this world where people are
literally addicted to the like button. The genie’s out of the bottle as everybody knows and how can we get involved in the conversation? As a parent, I needed to look into this. YouTube says that children under the age of 13 shouldn’t even have a YouTube channel at all. Why have you decided to go for a younger target audience with this camp? They’re already there. There are kids that are two and three that are watching YouTube videos. It’s mind- boggling, frankly. I don’t really condone having kids that have their own YouTube channel until they’re older, but if they do put stuff on YouTube it has
to be done with their parents. That’s why we don’t actually put anything on YouTube.
Right. This is a course that is very much marketed
as a YouTube creator type camp, right? So the implication perhaps for parents who don’t know better is that you’ll be teaching all the skills so that these kids can go away and become professional maybe YouTubers. Nobody wants to take a course about internet responsibility but they will take a course about unboxing
and funny prank videos where we can weave that in underneath. How do you know you’re doing enough?
Nobody’s ever going to know if we’re doing enough but we will know if
we do nothing. We need a zombie that’s not a main person. I mean, I can help out if you need an extra zombie.
I’m happy to help. That would be cool.
Okay, I’ll walk up behind you, that’s good. I was keen to meet some of the parents to see how they regulate
their children’s exposure to YouTube. Raven doesn’t have a channel yet,
but I sense that she’s keen. Yes, my stipulation is: as long as it’s private we can disable comments to keep it for this age. Why can’t it just be public and disable comments? Because it’s not, because you’re 10. There are certain things in the world that you don’t know about especially the online world and for females and for children and the
dangers that can come with it. So there’s not going be a way to keep her from this realistically so it might as well be that in a way that we can control and she can enjoy it. Should you be allowed a YouTube channel
at some point? When in the future do you think that might be, parents? When’s the rent due?
But several of the campers already have their own YouTube channels.
Hello, Oscar! And what have you got there?
Epic pillow death run. Six-year-old Oscar shares constructions he makes from soft furnishings to a channel curated by his parents. How do I make the comments so that they
are not disabled? I think we disable them in your account because we don’t want random weird people
making comments on your videos. It’s like basic media literacy for his generation like being able to make a video and tell your story or make a point and be able to edit it together. To do that that’s like crucial. We never know the ultimate
impact of the things going on with our children and obviously this is coming on much faster than any previous technology. Do you feel as parents that you have control over YouTube in the way that you would like? For now we do, definitely. Our main rule is that nothing can be posted
unless I’ve seen it first. It’s not like people are gonna be discovering the channel. We’re not trying to promote it,
although we are doing this today, so… I do think another thing using computers in general makes kids much more powerful than they were in our age. Like I couldn’t really do anything when I was six. All I could do is ride my bike around the
neighbourhood, you know, and these days a kid could start a media empire or… and has done. So that, that actually kind of works. I want to post this.
I really want to post it. Parents imagine they are curating
and they’re really not. They don’t have all the information
to make the right decisions. Anne Henry is the co-founder of BizParents, an organisation that advocates for children’s rights
in the entertainment industry. There’s very little career path between YouTube and the real entertainment industry, almost non-existent. Real entertainment industry?
Are you an entertainment industry snob? Yeah, I am a little bit of a snob I guess. These kids got to make their mistakes in
private with the teacher that helped them through it and you’re doing it by yourself
in your basement on YouTube. Your mistakes are going to be ugly and everybody is going to see them and you’re going to get ripped up about it. What sort of advice do you give parents of children who are setting out in YouTube? Well, YouTube is not something that we ever even advise. It’s not safe. I think YouTube has drastically failed. They have serious problems and they are
the ones controlling the game. They admit that they can’t curate all the videos that are loaded. They can’t keep up. They’ve created a complete business model, an algorithm that is not transparent. We don’t know what they’re doing and it’s hard for us to adapt to a business model that is constantly changing. Back at the camp, Alex has organised a field trip to the world famous Village Recording Studios. Welcome. I mean, it’s not really my place
to welcome you. Rebecca Black is a singer, YouTuber and potential cautionary tale about the downside to overnight internet fame after her song Friday went viral when she was just 13. The video was temporarily removed due to a legal dispute but not before Rebecca was mocked online and bullied at school. How many hits has Friday got? Before it was down, it had like 170 million views
and it’s definitely passed 100 million views again. Despite this, she remained on YouTube and is now promoting her new songs to well over a million subscribers. Do you feel that you’re still to some degree
defined by Friday? People ask me, you know, like do I regret that song, regret that experience, regret that video… No, because it is a part of my story and a part of who I am and I had to make it a positive. I wouldn’t have been able to come here and do
things like this and speak to kids three years ago because I’d be like…help. Hi guys, how are you? Nice to meet you. So how many of you guys are currently making videos right now? Oh my goodness. Why do you think it is that children are so keen to kind of find their group and their gang on the internet as opposed to in reality? Because you have so much more opportunity to be accepted and for me I felt so alone and YouTube was such a huge safety net for me. If the right people are guiding them and helping them through it, it’s a great place for creativity and for self expression. Do you guys have any questions? How do you stay popular when people start losing interest and start going away? I think the community and finding the people that like what you like are going to do so much more for you than just getting like millions of views
on one video. Yeah, what’s up? What do you find more interesting, dabbing or flossing? What do you guys find more interesting?
Alright. Are famous YouTubers going to be subjected to the same issues that famous Hollywood child actors have had in the past? We already see it from YouTubers. There’s burnout and mental illness and depression and it’s driven by the YouTube algorithm that requires them to keep going. They have to post two, three times a week minimum or their numbers go down, their money goes down.
It’s a never ending cycle. That’s incredibly stressful. They can’t even take vacations. What do you say to people, who turn around and say, you know, there is no way to be safe on YouTube when you’re putting yourself out there? We’re just trying to start that conversation and if that thought is put into it and it’s curated really what I’m trying to build is a responsible digital citizen and we’re trying to instill it one YouTuber at a time. It looks really cool. Despite its flaws, YouTube is a symptom rather than the cause of a particularly 21st century sensation that shows no signs of abating. The ubiquity of video cameras today empowers people to scratch the itch for fame and notoriety like never before. My only hope is that this digital generation will grow up
better equipped to navigate the challenges of the online world than their analogue-born parents. Just like pretend the camera is your friend. Thanks for watching. If you have any thoughts please leave some comments below and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the Guardian and if you like what we’re doing please support the Guardian. You can find more information here. Yeah. Was that okay? Yeah.

35 Replies to “YouTube kids: how unboxing, gaming and toy reviews took over”

Frightening and sinister. Should be illegal to appear on social media platforms until you're at least 18. Both for the sake of kids who get used by their parents for these ghastly family vlogs having their childhood stolen and commodified (without their consent), and also for the inevitable damage to the development of kids who aspire to something so capricious and hollow. Capitalism folks, even the kids aren't safe anymore. Its child labor for the 21st century framed as something cute or new, that actually creates monsters…

The questions I'd have for each kid is: Why do you make videos? Why do you want to be an "Influencer"? If it's for the fame and notoriety, I'd definitely discourage it. If they have a genuine passion to create, have an artist's spirit, and do it because they enjoy creating videos for the fun of it, I'd have to think twice about it..The problem I see is when kids (or any aspiring "Influencers") create content but it's being done out of a focus for acceptance and validation from others online. If it is done for the amount of Likes and Comments, it is leading a person down a road of emptiness every time they don't get the validation they want. When a person's self-worth is dependent mostly on their environment, they are heading for trouble. .I'm not a parent, but I have no doubt how much time and focus it takes in raising kids. I commend anyone reading this who is a parent the responsibility you take on. It's important we teach the kids of the future that feelings of self-worth needs to come from within because far too many are being taught (intentionally and unintentionally) it's going to come from others and their environment. What's even more important is to remember the ideas and lessons we instill with kids now is crucial, because they're going to carry those ideas for the rest of their lives.

I have always been really critical of these shows my son watches. I tell him often they are edited, and produced, and scripted…they aren't just random recordings by children having fun and then uploaded. They are there to sell him products, push ideals of what "fun" is, and generally just entertain their target audience any way they can. That this is a job for some kids, and they have to do it even on the days they really dont feel like it.I know, I'm a total killjoy. I also am really concerned as to why these kids are not protected through the child labor laws? Its the wild west for child labor right now.

Hi there! We just saw this piece by the Guardian and we'd be happy to answer any questions. Just to respond to a few we've spotted already… Beau very much enjoys participating in the shows he makes for YouTube and this is a venture he himself asked to be involved in several years ago. I'm not sure it's accurate to respond by saying we (as parents) are exploiting or capitalising on Beau. Most of the money his channel earns from sponsored brand deals and advertising does in fact go into a trust fund account for Beau when he's older. Only he will have access to it when he's 18. I can't speak for all parents who allow their children to make shows like his, but in Beau's case, he's level headed and YouTube is only a small part of his life. We only upload every couple of weeks or more. He's a member of a tennis club, learning to play piano, loves swimming and acting – He's just a normal kid who's YouTube channel happened to attract attention over the years since he's been actively involved.As for the future, he's open minded about it. He has a keen interest in the environment, especially penguins and Antarctica. Loves nature programs – Who knows, the skills he learns when presenting could help define a future career in that direction? YouTube isn't all bad, there are positive aspects to it. This has opened doors for him in many respects. But we can understand how people can draw conclusions based on what they see and hear in the wider media.If you have any particular questions, feel free to reply and we will try to answer them if we see them!

I'm not 100 percent sure that children have a place on youtube, or the internet, at all. For many, obvious reasons. I have a feeling there are going to be many negative side effects that will, and have, come from this new generation of children being exploited on YouTube. It's sad that parents can so easily look past possible risks, the moment money is mentioned. That being said, we don't have the slightest clue what damage will present itself later on…but let's focus on looking at the positive aspects for the time being?

As for a child giving reason for why they want to partake in being a YouTube creator, they dont have the slightest clue as to what they want to do and why they want to. This is why children are supposed to focus on growing up, learning and enjoy growing while they're still young, care free. Theres something truly sinister about this social generation, now that it's being projected onto young children.